Luggage Gift Box

Hello,

I'm not the guy that enjoys shopping for presents. So gift vouchers or maybe even money are presents that I tend to give a lot. But I always like to wrap it up my way or make a little side gift.

So for my little sister's birthday I created a luggage gift box. She went to Australia for a couple of months last year so I'm pretty sure she would like it.

What you would need:

• Box
• Old leather wallet (or a sheet of brown paper could do just fine)
• String
• Piece of cardboard
• Stapler
• Glue
• Paint
• Scissors

I looked up some pictures of luggages and chose one I liked (1st picture).

I then painted the whole box in a similar color.

Let it dry.

After that I painted every side of the box with a brown paint that looked the same color as the leather I had. To help me I placed a piece of cardboard in the middle of the side I was painting, the cardboard was about 2cm smaller than the box on each side. I could then easily paint straight strokes.

Let it dry.

Last step to color the luggage box I took a color pencil slightly darker than the base color. I drew lines all over the suitcase to give it a 'relief' kind of look.

I used small squares of leather which I glued onto each corner. Afterwards I came up with a technique that might have been a little better, I think...

The second technique is shown on the pictures and could be done with paper as well.

1. Measure with a drafting compass how big the corner must be and draw a circle on the paper.
2. Fold the circle over the corner and draw a line on the side that doesn't cover the box.
3. Cut out the side you marked
4. Glue the remaining of the circle on the corner.

The last picture shows my box where I used a leather square instead of circle. I did not cut the leather either but stapled it together.

For the handgrip I cut out a piece of cardboard 3 cm wide and about half the length of the box. I cut out a piece of leather 2 cm longer and 2 cm wider.

The leather is wrapped around the cardboard and then stapled. After that staple it on the top of the box.

I had a button left over from the change money pocket of the wallet. I glued the two pieces on the box so the luggage could be closed.

To give it a more vintage and used look I added at the end some stickers and tags.

• Luggage airport tag of Sydney, Australie.
• Baggage name tag. Glued to pieces on cardboard. Attached it with a piece of string.
• Travel stickers of australie. I printed them on label paper and cut them out

Don't forget to add the present.

Have fun.

Nils